Who am I?

Key Concept

You have looked at who you have been in your life. Much of how we define ourselves comes from what we’ve done – our career, our parenting, our achievements, the sports we played.
You have identified what you want to keep and what you want to let go as you move into this next phase of your life. You have also looked at how your beliefs impact on your physical, mental and emotional well-being.
So it is now appropriate that you ask yourself “Who am I?” At my core ‘Who am I?”

Objective

After having completed this module you will have identified your core beliefs, your essential values, your passions and your intentions as you move into retirement.

This is a challenging Module – it requires that you look past the person you present to the world. As Michael Jackson sang “I’m working on the man in the mirror”.

You have been given some questionnaires that are aimed at helping you get behind the facade – they won’t define for you who you are but they will point to it.

Complete the questionnaires and then give them to your spouse and to a trusted friend (and if you can, to your kids – they would be honoured to get this level of insight into who you are).

If you would like to do a really comprehensive questionnaire, Click Here. It is an excellent exercise in self awareness. With many thanks to Nicole Wolf for letting us use it.

The reason for involving others is best explained by the Johari Window.

The Johari Window

Known Self Things we know about ourselves and others know about us.

Hidden Self Things we know about ourselves that others do not know.

Blind Self Things others know about us that we do not know.

Unknown Self Things neither we nor others know about us.

You would be revealing things that you know about yourself that others don’t know – your Hidden Self, and they would be able to reveal what they know about you that you don’t know – your Blind Self. Together it would give you insight into your Unknown Self.

We tend to be our harshest critic, so it is likely that some aspects of your Blind Self will come as a pleasant surprise. This isn’t an Ego Trip (that’s best left to people in their 40s) – this is an opportunity to incorporate some new positive information into your view of yourself. That new information may open avenues to self expression you had never considered.

Discussion Assignment - Who am I?

What was revealed about who you are? Is there anything you would “wish” to be different? If so, how can you make that happen?

Next module - A New Beginning - My vision for my Retirement

A happy, fulfilling retirement is dependent on your health - in all its forms - psychological, physical, mental, sexual, emotional, social, financial and intellectual. And your health starts with a sense of purpose. With a sense of purpose, your retirement has meaning and to fulfill that purpose, you need to be healthy.